


A Walk on Role

by dizzy



Category: Broadway RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-08 21:47:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4321932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darren knows what he wants, and he's gonna do what it takes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Walk on Role

Darren's young the first time, if not in age then in spirit and experience. He's fucked a few guys but those were college days, drunken fumbling high on freedom and cheap pot. 

He lets himself be wooed back to a hotel room where a man sprawls out on the couch and watches him with strange sad eyes. Darren gets more drunk than he should and more high than he should and sits at John's feet and talks, tells stories about being in high school, ego stroking someone who is a superstar in his eyes. 

Darren's on Broadway now, but he's not kidding himself. It's a three week stint 

He barely even notices when John's hand drops to his hair. It feels nice, that way being touched when he's high always does, and he sighs and rests his head against John's knee and wonders how this became his life. 

*

John takes him out to dinner a few times. 

Darren hears the whispers. He doesn't give a god-fucking-damn, because this man shaped his formative years and Darren will kneel at the altar of a that fucked up mind as often as he's allowed. 

But there is a reason, too. They're talking about bringing the show to Broadway and John is wooing a few people for the role. 

Darren isn't a prime candidate. He's not the look, the body type, not the right age, and he's a beginner. But he's got something - 

Something John wants. 

So he'll do what it takes. 

* 

He blows John for the first time the night before he leaves New York to head back to Los Angeles to go back to filming the show. 

Darren's young, but he's not dumb, and he got that it was leading to this. He knows how this game is played. He gets on his knees and he looks up at eyes that never quite seem anything but sad. Right now they're closed, and that pretty bow of a mouth is open, pink tongue peaking out, tight stomach sucked in as his hips roll forward. 

Darren doesn't get off, but he doesn't care. That's not really what that first time is about. 

* 

The second time is almost a year later. 

The show talks got stalled. It'll work out, Darren's sure. They've got a few good names behind it now. 

Darren believes in this project. He still wants his shot at it. He's in New York for an event and he's happy when the invite from John comes through. 

He's not so happy when a producer with wandering hands tries to insinuate that Darren's name might go up on the list if he does some favors. 

But John comes sweeping in with his quiet but somehow heavy presence and with a couple of pointed looks in the right direction the producer slinks off, practically leaving a trail of slime behind him. 

Darren stays protectively tucked against John's side the entire party. He doesn't really notice exactly how it happens but they're making the rounds like a couple, Darren bright with laughter and charming the girls while John talks business with the boys. 

John seems happier than he had the year before. His hand stays on the small of Darren's back and his breath smells like whiskey when he whispers an invitation into Darren's ear, followed by three soft kisses, one after the other inching closer to his mouth. 

Darren's breath catches in his throat and he feels that surge of want, turning into John to make the kiss something real. 

* 

After that night, it doesn't happen again until Darren gets the casting news. 

It stings a little that his name wasn't even on the table, but he isn't surprised. His agent tells him that they couldn't have even asked, that maybe he was considered but they knew it would be a no. The network won't let him out of the contract again. Three weeks was pushing it, and he was in far better graces with them than is right now. He's no longer Murphy's golden boy. 

They won't take a lead actor in Hedwig for shorter than a twelve-week engagement, and he just doesn't have three months to give them. 

But he still goes to New York when the invite comes. He feels like a mistresses being assuaged when he finds out his room has been upgraded to a suite, when he sees the expensive basket of food and alcohol waiting for him, when John shows up to his door with a loosened tie and a look of fondness on his face. 

There are no outright apologies, but John fucks him for the first time that night and when it's over and the condom is tossed John tucks Darren to him like he would a lover, kisses his forehead like he would a child, and then falls asleep and stays the night. 

* 

The invites to New York come more frequently after that. Every new actor cast, every award, every major occasion - Darren is there. Darren is included. He starts to actually get treated like the significant other; which is to say, with a lot of careful condescension and whispered gossip every time he walks away. 

But it's powerful, too. People are afraid to fuck with him. People know he has some sway. 

John's no joke, not in any circle. He's afraid he is, though. He confesses it to Darren over late nights in bed, when he's fuck drunk enough to talk honestly. He's afraid he's too old to be doing this, that people are questioning his decision, that they want to take it out of his hands. 

Darren says he'd kick anyone's ass that tried and John just laughs, laughs and kisses him and pinches his cheek. "I know you would, darling, I know you would." 

*

When it comes down the pipeline that the show is canceled, Darren knows it's his chance. 

His manager tries to tell him that men make promises they don't keep, but Darren knows - not John. Or, hell, maybe John. But not to /him/. Still, he can't help the nerves as he waits for the official word. 

Then it comes. 

*

Darren's there for John's opening night. 

He couldn't be fucking prouder. John kills it, just like he always has, and Darren has a million and one filthy thoughts about getting fucked by John when he wears those heels and those black shorts. 

But in the back of the mind he can't help but rejoice over the fact that no one knows yet, but he's going to be the next Berlin Wall. 

And there's really no one he'd rather follow. 

*

People still talk. They talk a lot. They talk about the age difference and the fact that doors open for Darren now. They talk about the way John and Darren don't ever publicly acknowledge what they are, but don't hide it, either.

"I've got a sweet tooth..." Darren saunters over to John during his first full rehearsal, easily propping one foot up. He's not in the outfit yet but it still pulls a laugh out of John. Warmth bursts through Darren, because not everyone can do that. 

But he can. Whatever this started out as, it's become something else. John doesn't fuck around with fresh face wannabees anymore. Darren doesn't accept the advances of anyone else. They've given pieces of each other away for years, but this, what they give to each other, this is... the good stuff, to finish a cliche. 

"Sugar Daddy." He leans down and licks across John's mouth, not giving a fuck who is watching. "Bring it home." 

"Okay," John mouths, flirting, winking, and Darren doesn't get it until later, until that night, when John slips a key into his hand. Home takes on a new meaning, a lived in New York brownstone with a closet his clothes can officially take up residence in half of. 

* 

On Darren's closing night, he steps backstage and into John's arms. He's older, he's tired now, sore and happy and sad his run is through... but he gets to take the best part of this experience home with him. 

"Do you remember," John asks that night, settling onto Darren's lap. His arms drape over Darren's shoulders and Darren smiles, nuzzling into the touch. "When you were a little schoolboy with a crush?" 

"Hottest blonde teenage me ever jerked it to." Darren teases. John's eyes crease at the corners now and he's got frown lines that make him seem too serious. Darren likes to kiss them into a smile every time he gets the chance.

"So is it everything you thought it would be?" He asks, soft and sweet, all that insecurity crawling under the surface. They're opposites like that; Darren's brash and assumes his place where John needs the reminder. Darren gets that now. The hero worship is tucked away, under the careful mapping out he's done of who John is as an actual person, flaws and all. 

Are they the kind of relationship that will play out? Will Darren need to stretch his wings and fly? Will John want someone who runs more at his speed? 

Maybe, eventually, who knows. But for now Darren can reassure him with ease and confidence. 

He's exactly where he wants to be.


End file.
